Further readings
- Mentally Healthy Schools: A digital hub bringing together quality-assured information, advice and over 700 free resources to teachers and other educators understand and promote children’s mental health and wellbeing https://www.mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/
- Schools in Mind: A free network of education staff which shares practical, academic and clinical expertise on mental health and wellbeing in schools and other educational settings https://www.albanyvillageprimary.org.uk/virtual-office/schools-in-mind
- Training: Includes exceptional evidence-based training and interactive workshops online to develop the key skills needed to support children’s and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing https://www.annafreud.org/media/12816/link-programme-workshop-toolkit-spring-2021.pdf
- A whole school framework for emotional well-being and mental health https://www.ncb.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/files/NCB%20School%20Well%20Being%20Framework%20Leaders%20Resources_0.pdf
- Α Framework for School Based Mental Health Services in West Virginia https://livewell2.marshall.edu/MUTAC/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Concept2-ESMH-in-WV-Concept-Paper.pdf
- Improving social and emotional learning in primary schools
- Community Tool Box: Is a source aiming to empower the whole community and includes tools for teachers and other community members on how involve the community and identify the needs, plan an intervention and sustain change over time.https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/analyze/where-to-start/design-community-interventions/main
- A framework for promoting mental health at school
- Classroom wise: free training package that assists educators in supporting the mental health of students in the classroom. Developed by the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) Network in partnership with the National Center for School Mental Health, offers evidence-based strategies and skills to engage & support students experiencing adversity and distress. It also includes videos and an extensive resource collection.https://www.classroomwise.org/about-classroom-wise
European projects that have incorporated creative strategies in classrooms
- Language learning in school: interdisciplinarity and creative writing https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/teacher_academy/webinars/language-learning-in-school.htm
- Creative Project-Based Learninghttps://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/teacher_academy/webinars/creative-project-based-learnin.htm
- Enhancing creativity through a Project-Based Learning approach https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/latest/practices/project-based-approach.htm
- The CREATIONS project, develops creative, engaging approaches to science education based on art. http://creations-project.eu/
Further readings for Unit 1
Topic 4: Selecting activities
The National Centre for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance has designed a helpful guide to promote positive student behaviour. The guide aims to:
- Help elementary school educators & school staff develop & implement effective prevention & intervention strategies for the classroom or the whole school
- Make specific recommendations about various aspects of the educational process
- Include the relevant research evidence that supports them
- Propose ways that each recommendation can be practically implemented & solutions to common barriers to implementation
Further readings for Unit 2
Topic 2: Evidence based interventions and policies
- In the next page you will find a list of successful, evidence based interventions identified in the Paulus & colleagues review (2016), that have been implemented universally (e.g. USA, Australia, Europe) to address mental health issues at school (e.g. stress, anxiety, depression etc).
- These best practices have been specially designed to address common challenges of students, and are tailored to their developmental stage.
- These sources can help you design your own intervention targeted to your setting’s needs. You could also collaborate with researchers to apply the intervention more widely and assess the intervention effects over a period of time.
Paulus, F. W., Ohmann, S., & Popow, C. (2016). Practitioner Review: School‐based interventions in child mental health. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(12), 1337-1359.
Sources with guidance on how to write an effective school (or educational setting) mental health and well-being policy:
Topic 3: Considerations for effective implementation of school-based interventions – Best practices
- The Evidence Based Intervention Network has developed a website to help & guide teachers & other educators select & implement evidence-based interventions at schools
- This website includes information on how to select the appropriate intervention for your needs & has summaries, briefs & videos on how to implement interventions
https://education.missouri.edu/ebi/
The Evidence Based Intervention Network provides a number of emotional and behavioural interventions and tools for teachers and other educators
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) (Education Endowment Foundation n.d.) has developed a very helpful tool that will help you compare:
- Which interventions are most effective based on the strength of research evidence
- The level of impact (e.g. on students’ behaviour, or emotional and social skills)
- The anticipated cost in terms of time and other resources involved
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Toolkit/complete/EEF-Teaching-Learning-Toolkit-October-2018.pdf
Topic 4: Digital toolkits, online activities, and other resources
- Classroom WISE is a platform containing many recourses, evidence-based interventions, strategies, tools and activities for the classroom to:
- support students experiencing distress &
- develop the resilience and well-being of students
- Intervention Central is a website with free resources and practical strategies for teachers, schools and districts to help students with their mental health and their well being.
https://www.interventioncentral.org/
- The Child Rights Resource Centre has developed a guide on how to monitor and evaluate psychosocial support interventions for teachers, schools and other educational settings. It includes best practices, quality interventions and guidance on how to design psychosocial support programmes and strategies.
- The website ‘We are Teachers’ includes several resources, practical toolkits and simple ways for teachers and other educators to integrate social and emotional learning activities in their classroom every day.
Further readings for Unit 3
Topic 5: Case studies and resources
The Psychological First Aid for Children package in the COVID-19 outbreak is a toolkit that:
- Provides psychological first aid training for children
- Developed for those providing direct care and support to children and their caregivers in distress, such as nurses, teachers, social workers etc.
The training aims to enable teachers to:
- Know more about children’s reactions to distress
- Know what psychological first aid for children is and what it is not
- Understand the three action principles of ‘look, listen and link’ in relation to children
- Practise providing psychological first aid to a child and caregiver in distress
- Consider complex reactions and situations
- Be aware of the importance of self-care when helping others
https://pscentre.org/?resource=online-pfa-training-for-covid-19-additional-module-pfa-for-children&selected=single-resource
Further readings for Unit 4
Topic 5: Implementing creative activities in classroom
5 fun creative games to teach self-regulation based on Social Emotional Learning strategies- appropriate for all ages
15 fun and creative classroom activities for all ages
- This is a list of 26 simple ways to integrate social-emotional learning in the classroom throughout the day
- https://www.weareteachers.com/21-simple-ways-to-integrate-social-emotional-learning-throughout-the-day/
- This is a list of 19 easy classroom ideas and ready-to-go design templates, you can encourage your students to explore their creativity throughout the school year
- https://www.canva.com/learn/19-ideas-to-promote-more-creativity-in-your-classroom/
